Stages of Grief
by AvoxMisery
Summary: To hear your daughter cry for you but not be able to go to her. Not be able to hold her, to tell her that everything is okay and you are there for here. Always and Forever. Picks up at the end of season four of The Originals and covers the nine/ten years that Klaus is separate from them. Rated T for some conversations about violence.


"Dad?"

"Dad?!"

"DADDY?!"

It's a sound that a father never forgets and leaves feeling that always lingers. To hear your daughter cry for you but not be able to go to her. Not be able to hold her, to tell her that everything is okay and you are there for here. Always and Forever. Except that "forever" wasn't nearly as long as it was supposed to be.

The first few moments after the ceremony was completed was the hardest of his life. A dark part that was now a part of him was telling him to take Hope and run. Leave everyone behind. Run away until no one could ever find his daughter and no one would hurt her. He knew that that part was really the Hollow trying to have him steal Hope away for its, her, own reasons. After seeing that she was okay, Klaus told her he loved her and he ran away, not trusting himself to give her a hug and a kiss without the Hollow trying to do something.

The curse of being so old was that his hearing had a very long range. It wasn't until a number of blocks away that he could no longer hear Hope's cries for him. He didn't stop running until he was in the Bayou at one of the locations he had stashed a car along with some essentials. Klaus had prepared for this the moment Vincent had told his family that they had to go away, far away, from each other. Unfortunately, he already had it prepared before Haley told him the caveat to the ceremony. He opened the car door and saw the bag of clothes he had packed for Hope and Hayley along with some sketchbooks and crayons for Hope to draw with while they drove away from New Orleans.

Tears began to pool in his eyes as he damned himself for being the emotional brother. The weak one, as his _father_ would like to frequently remind him. This one time, just this once, maybe it was okay to be the weak one. After all, he knew from Esther how much the faux death of Freya affected his father. Klaus sat in the driver's seat and wept, heartbroken.

After an hour or so, he turned the ignition and drove off. He texted Elijah, Kol, Rebekah, and Hayley in order to find out where they were headed so that he could choose an opposite path. Kol responded first saying that he and Davina were going to California to settle down for a bit, Rebekah responded immediately afterward with saying she would visit New York City but didn't know how long she would be staying there. Hayley said she was headed to the Gulf Coast, but would not give an exact location and Klaus knew why. Elijah didn't respond.

Without input from Elijah, Klaus decided to head up north. He didn't want to leave the continent that his daughter was on, for however long she would be on this earth. To Canada it was, or very nearly, as much as Klaus hated the cold.

* * *

The first weeks were utter hell.

Klaus hadn't slept and barely ate. Every time he tried to sleep he could hear Hope crying out for him, and for Klaus not to be able to go to her, it was torture. Not being hungry had surprised him as he was certain he would have gone on a rampage, killing and eating anyone that crossed his path. Instead, he sat in a dark room of a spacious house he bought and drank bourbon until he couldn't feel anything. He compelled an employee at a local blood bank to bring him an occasional "donation". Aside from that, he stayed in the dark solitude of the house. It was a bit of macabre humor that for five years he was trapped in a world of loneliness and pain and darkness - not entirely by choice - and a few months later he was in self-imposed isolation and darkness. The pain this time was emotional at least.

During this time he contacted Marcel under the pretense of inquiring about the venom that was the only thing left on earth that could kill an Original. Should a spare vial fall into the wrong hands one of them could die and a piece of the Hollow would escape, heading straight to Hope. Apart from that, he wanted to hear a familiar voice.

" _I promise you, the only place there is venom is in me. Apart from myself, your family and Davina, no one still alive knows about it. I had Elijah compel Josh to forget about it_." Marcel said over the phone, no lie in his voice.

There was a brief pause before Klaus spoke.

"How is she?"

Marcel knew exactly who Klaus was referring to. " _Rebekah is fine. Sad, but fine. I think she might have plans to start a fashion line or something._ " Marcel paused. " _She misses her family_."

"I know." Klaus added silently, 'As do I'. "Goodbye Marcel. Keep her safe. Remember, Freya ha-"

" _Freya has the antidote, I know. I don't intend to bite her, not on accident and definitely not on purpose. Freya will think of something, stay sane Klaus."_

"When I have ever been known to be sane?" Klaus responded with a half smile. "I will try." With that, he hung up.

* * *

The first year was worse than hell because in that year he still had some hope. After the first month was over he went outside of the house - sometimes gone for weeks or months at a time. He went to every witch, warlock, seer, and back alley tarot card reader he could find. There was no way that this was permanent. There was always supposed to be a loophole and Klaus refused to believe that the only loophole was that his family had to be separate now, always and forever. He ate only when the hunger was about to drive him to desiccation and slept only when his eyes could no longer stay open. During his travels, Klaus would send postcards, sketches, and letters to a P.O. box that Hayley had set up.

That address was the last thing she texted him before her phone was disconnected. That and a picture of Hope who was smiling in the light of a summer's day. The smile wasn't able to reach her eyes. Klaus knew that Hayley had his number should there be an emergency, but that call never came.

After exhausting every lead, every myth, every grimoire - Klaud retreated back to his house in the north.

He promptly burnt it down.

Klaus was angry, to put it gently. Some part of him - a wall inside - broke. All of his pent up emotions came flooding out of him. Before he had burned down the house, Klaus had ripped the unfortunate blood bank employee to pieces as the man arrived to drop off some recent donations. Nothing recognizable remained of the human.

Nothing recognizable remained of the human.

Klaus tore the house apart in his rage, tore apart everything, save for the drawings that Hope had made for him. He drove away from the inferno and went on a rampage.

The demolition of the house marked the beginning of the second year.

The savage killing of the employee marked the first of countless others.

* * *

During the second year, Klaus's memories were paved with blood. It wasn't until after the year was over that he regained some of his senses and was startled to find that he had not killed a single innocent person. Klaus was pleased to discover that the world now has a few thousand fewer pedophiles than before. His subconscious had decided in his blood rage that if he couldn't find a way to reunite with his daughter and family, he would try to make the world a bit safer for Hope and children like her.

On the start of the third year he contacted Kol and Rebekah. Elijah still hadn't responded to Klaus's numerous attempts to contact him. It was only during a conversation with Rebekah that he learned why that was.

" _Marcel didn't tell you?"_ Genuine surprise was heard in her voice.

"Tell me what?" Klaus didn't receive an immediate answer and feared the worst. "Is he... is Elijah dead?"

" _What?! No!_ " Rebekah paused again, shorter this time. " _Elijah had Vincent and Marcel compel him to forget."_

"Forget what?" Pause, uneasy silence. "Forget **what** Rebekah!?" His voice demanding and cold as ice.

" _To forget our vow of 'Always and Forever' Nik."_

"Why?" Klaus asked, but he felt that he already knew the answer. It was because of him. Klaus had even warned Elijah not to come to him and try and save him from himself.

" _Elijah decided that he did not have the self-control to stay away... stay away from his family if we should find ourselves in trouble."_

It was the way that she had said "trouble" that he knew it was because of him. Elijah wouldn't have hesitated to come to his 'rescue' if the situation would arise.

"Can it be reversed in the event that..." Klaus trailed off as his throat began to feel oddly constricted.

" _Marcel says yes. He made sure of that with Vincent beforehand that it could be undone."_ Rebekah answered before pausing again. " _How are you doing Nik?_ "

"I should be asking you that, little sister," a quick smirk graced his face. It left as soon as it arrived. "I am fine and only a little worse for wear. For the past year, I have picked up a new hobby and had some fun."

" _I suspected that was you. I was beginning to wonder if you hadn't fallen off the face of the planet before reports of rather creative murders of 'filth' made its way to the Big Apple."_

 _"_ Am I truly that obvious my sweet sister?" Another smirk.

" _Only when paintings with their blood are left at the scene. On the walls, the beds,"_ She trailed off with a touch of humor in her voice.

"On the ceiling, on the floor. Names of their victims carved into their skin by their own hand. It was a little hazy, but enjoyable nonetheless."

Silence sat between them for a few moments.

" _It's good to hear from you Nik. Freya will find something, I am certain of it."_

"At least one of us is." Klaus remembered that first year, frustration and rage began to boil back to the surface. "Goodbye Rebekah."

* * *

In that third year, Klaus found that Kol was to be married to Davina. The two of them were flourishing in California - mostly due to Kol compelling the landlords to give them a place without rent. Kol had started making protection charms, designing the jewelry and having Davina spell them. They sold them out of a witchcraft and New Age style shop that Davina ran.

Klaus found himself wishing that he could attend the first Mikealson wedding in a millennium. It was too dangerous, the threat of the Hollow and all that. Freya was going to be there as the Maid of Honour and vowed to film the whole affair. With all his past with Davina, he never thought that she would one day become part of the family. He was almost glad that he hadn't killed her during one of the numerous chances that he had had. Klaus was positive that it would not last - whether by their own choice or simply because of how fragile and short a mortal life was - but at least Kol might find some temporary happiness that seemed to forever elude him.

He tracked down Elijah and found him enjoying the simple life in a bar-type joint, playing the piano. After leaving him a tip, Elijah looked back and there was no acknowledgement of their family ties, just the nod of a piano player to someone who enjoyed their music.

Klaus found himself revisiting the best leads he had uncovered during that first year. He acted dangerously, at least for him. Klaus offered himself up as a power source for some of the witches that Freya had trusted, but only if she was present. He could never trust completely.

Even with his power, they were unable to create a vessel powerful enough to hold the Hollow for longer than a few minutes. It was excruciatingly painful for Klaus, but he kept trying. Truth be told it was a fraction of the pain he endured during his five years of imprisonment - three of those with the damned knife embedded within him. He welcomed the pain this time as it reminded him that he was still alive.

After a year of the trials and failures, he began to give up.

* * *

In year four he settled in another one of his houses. This one was out in the middle of nothing and nowhere, deep in the forest. He found a hunter that was a loner living some twenty miles away. Once a hunter the hunter was compelled to arrive at his door and offer his neck to Klaus.

Klaus, in return, would pay him in bourbon and a nice sum of money. He didn't understand why he felt a need to compensate the man when it never mattered before, but he decided not to fight that feeling. The hunter would leave each visit with the thought that he helped his neighbor with repairs and was given compensation, having had a friendly chat along with a stiff drink.

In reality, Klaus hadn't said a word to him apart from the first time he compelled the hunter.

He left his phone on in case Hayley needed him but ceased responding to his siblings and Marcel. Klaus would listen to the messages and read the texts - if only to see if there was any new development. However, he sometimes waited a month before doing so.

Days melted into weeks that melted into months that began to melt into years. The only way for him to keep track of time was when the hunter would come to pay him a visit.

Sometime in year seven or eight, Klaus saw the hunter leave his front porch and a few minutes later heard a faint commotion.

A low growl.

A scream.

The smell of animal and human blood mixing together.

For a split second, Klaus sat in the study debating what to do. Then he acted.

He sped out of the house to find the hunter being mauled by a bear. It was the season when the bears in the woods were waking from their hibernation and hungry - looking to defend their territories. Should he let the hunter die and hope he could find another human nearby, or should he save the hunter?

He chose to save the old man.

Now he had to decide if he would stay as he was or change into his werewolf form and chance injuring or killing the hunter in a bloodlust after the fight with the bear. He decided to stay the way he was. Rushing behind the bear, whose sole attention was focused on the hunter, Klaus reached in where he assumed the heart was and pulled. It was a lung instead. The bear swung around at the sudden pain and Klaus managed to only just be caught by a swing of the paw before finally finding his target.

The bear slumped backwards, dead.

The hunter wasn't far behind if not for Klaus feeding him some of his blood. He hadn't done that in well over a decade, feeding someone who wasn't a close friend or family some of his blood to save them. Klaus couldn't even remember the man's name. Did it really matter?

He compelled the hunter to believe that the bear had been caught in a trap and helped him carve up the edible parts for the hunter to take home and cure for consumption. Klaus decided that it only made sense. If the hunter was well fed, then Klaus was well fed.

* * *

By year nine the hunter had missed his weekly visit. Klaus hadn't noticed the first time. After the third week was missed and the hunger began to become uncontrollable, Klaus ventured out of the house again to find out what had happened. It was not that he cared, he was just curious. Perhaps one of his enemies had gotten to the hunter and was plotting a nefarious scheme to kill or subdue him. With Marcel being the only weapon on earth that could kill him, they might be trying to subdue him. Chain him up like Marcel did and use him to parade over his other vast number of enemies.

It was just paranoia, as Klaus soon found out. The hunter appeared to have died in his sleep.

Klaus buried him in a clearing and burned down the old hunter's shack.

* * *

It was at the end of this year that he finally was able to accept that this was to be his way of life. Whether it was to be self-imposed isolation or surrounded by people in bars, it would not be with his family.

It was in this year that his phone rang with an unknown number.

It was in this year that he picked it up and heard her on the other end.

" _Dad? I think I found a way for us to be together."_

* * *

 **AN: I just found The Vampire Diaries, and then The Originals, about three weeks ago and binge-watched them until I finished The Originals yesterday. I became an immediate fan of Klaus when he was introduced in TVD. This story wouldn't get out of my head - mostly because I'm not sure if Julie Plec will go into what happened during those 9-10 years that the Original Family was separate for. I decided to write out what I feel could happen to Klaus during that time. Follows the five stages of grief and is a one-shot. This is my second story ever and I'm an accountant, so I do apologize if my story is lacking.** _  
_


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